“Yes, I did.”
“Do you think acceptable terms can be arranged?”
“I would not have thought so a month ago, but now I am not so certain.”
“Tell me truly, Acron, how do you feel personally regarding the establishment of a peace? We are quite alone here, and you can speak freely to an old friend.”
“Between the two of us, I am in favor of it.”
“Really? Do you actually want to quit killing Spartans and other Greeks?”
“Yes, I am ready to quit. The war does not seem to interest me as much as it formerly did.”
“Since you have answered me so honestly, I may as well admit that I would also like to quit. I have been intrigued lately by the prospect of doing other things. It seems to me, however, that there are points of difference which can never be settled to everyone’s satisfaction. I’m certain, for example, that the Spartans would never quit unless we agreed to return Pylos to them.”
“It would serve them right if we did,” said Lycon bitterly.
They were silent for a few minutes, remaining quietly side by side and staring out across the bay.
“It is unbearable here,” Acron said after a while.
“I agree,” said Lycon. “Things are made difficult for us.”
“We are scorned and shunned and made to feel miserable.”
“That’s true.”
“Do you suppose it would be possible to leave?”
“Since you ask the question, I don’t mind admitting that I plan to go back to Athens on the first supply vessel that will take me.”
“Would you object to my going along?”
“Not at all,” said Lycon. “You are welcome to come if you want to.”
17
Lysistrata was radiant. She had bathed and scented herself with perfumes and unguents and had put on a purple robe. Her hair was bound about her head in thick, bright braids.
“Lysistrata,” said Nausica, “you are at this moment as beautiful as any woman I have ever seen, and I doubt that Helen herself, in spite of all the claims made for her by Homer, was any more beautiful.”
“I agree,” said Calonice, “and this leads me to wonder if it is quite safe for you to venture among all these men, considering their condition after such long deprivation.”
“I am grateful for your compliments,” said Lysistrata, “and also for your concern. However, although I admit a slight danger, it is necessary for me to go and speak to the embassies which are now gathered in the Propylaea and waiting for me. They made the condition, you know, that I should appear and give their negotiations a direction. We cannot afford to jeopardize the final phase of our victory by an excessive concern for the safety of our virtue.”
“Yes,” Nausica said, “you must certainly go in spite of the danger, Lysistrata, for it has been established that Spartans and Athenians can never get together without a quarrel, and they would never accomplish anything without your assistance. If it will make you feel more secure, however, I’ll be happy to accompany you with my stick.”
“I don’t think so. You have acquired a reputation for ferocity that would not be beneficial in a peace conference, and might even work to the contrary of what we want.”
“I suppose that is so,” said Nausica. “I can see that I have nearly outlived my usefulness.”
“As for me,” said Calonice, “I still find difficulty in believing that we have brought it off. Do you suppose they will actually reach agreement on terms?”
“They will either reach agreement,” said Lysistrata, “or they will be sorry. Not, of course, that they will not quibble and fuss, for that is the nature of men, especially men who have become famous and are charged with affairs of state. But we must allow them their pretensions, which are essential to their vanity, and I am sure that it can be arranged so that each party will imagine that it has rooked the other. And now it is necessary that I go without further delay, for if I leave them waiting too long together in their present urgency, they may begin making use of each other and discover at the last moment that we are not so essential as they have been led to believe. That, you will admit, would be disastrous to our cause.”
“If you have no objection,” said Nausica, “we will walk to the Five Gates with you.”
“On the contrary,” said Lysistrata, “I shall be delighted with your company, and I tell you frankly that there is one aspect of peace which I do not anticipate with pleasure, and that is the termination of the fine fellowship we have developed under arms.”
“To tell the truth,” said Nausica sadly, “our stations will be reduced in a number of ways by the peace. I suppose, since the fable of masculine dominance is essential to a tolerable life at home, that I will have to give up threshing Cadmus with my stick.”
“Perhaps not entirely,” said Calonice. “You could thresh him with discretion in emergencies, I should think.”
“Do you really think so? It might be managed at that, now that I consider it. Anyhow, to be perfectly honest about it, I have been missing old Cadmus lately, and I’ll not deny it. I have it in mind to consider the signing of the peace a special occasion, which is the only time, if you will recall, that I am inclined to accommodate him.”
“For my part,” said Calonice, “I do not require anything special, and I wish Acron were here this instant instead of in Pylos.”
“Never mind, Calonice,” said Lysistrata. “He will be here soon enough after the peace is signed, as will Lycon, and it will not be necessary to endure prolonged abstinence in the future.”
While talking, they had been walking together toward a gate, and now, having reached it, Calonice and Nausica wished Lysistrata good luck in the negotiations and stood aside as she passed on through the gate alone. On the other side, Lysistrata faced the peace parties that had gathered among the Ionic columns, and she was pleased and gratified by the expressions on the faces turned toward her. When she had approached and taken her position, an Athenian stepped forward from his party and spoke.
“Lysistrata,” he said, “here are assembled, as you can easily see, some of the foremost men of Greece, and we have come to consider a treaty of peace, and we will have no one but you to guide our deliberations. This is most unusual, you being a woman, and it may set a precedent we will later regret.”
“It is true that I am a woman,” said Lysistrata, “and I can see that you are now exceptionally conscious of it, but I think it has been established that I am not, for that reason, to be discounted as a person, and on the contrary I have demonstrated clearly that I, as well as my companions, am much more clever than was previously acknowledged, and have, moreover, accomplished things which were not thought possible. Nor am I ignorant and untaught, having sat at the feet of my father and learned the wise precepts of the elders, and I remember from childhood the stories of great victories and common shrines where Greeks supported each other in the defeat of common enemies. It is a shame that you have forgotten the heritage which we all share, and have for many years devoted yourselves to the neglect of your homes and wives and the making of widows and orphans, and all the while, if you will be so sensible as to consider it, the barbarians to the north have been preparing to destroy us entirely, which may be unnecessary, after all, if we do not immediately refrain from destroying each other.
“Spartans, have you forgotten how Pericleidas, your countryman, came to ask for help when you were threatened by rebellious helots and angry Messenians? At that time, please remember, Cimon of Athens marched with four thousand hoplites to save you, and for this you have shown your gratitude by the systematic invasion and ravishing of Attica since the time of Pericles.
“Athenians, do not think that I consider you innocent in this foolishness just because I have chosen to speak directly to the Spartans first. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and I would like to remind you this instant how Spartan fought beside Athenian in the recovery of our freedom from the Thessalians, and the truth is, as we all know, nothing would have been won without Spartan spears.”